i woke up this morning and the waves were pretty much flat. plus, the water was still dirty from yesterday. my friend Brandon came to my house this morning and we decided to go fishing for a couple of hours. we passed bowls and it was hardly breaking. i don’t remember a summer day when the waves have been this small. there is supposed to be a big south swell starting thursday but until thursday, we will never know. we ended up surfing this afternoon and the waves were pretty fun. small but perfect conditions!

it wasn’t the best day for fishing because it was pretty rough. but my friend Derek always told me that the fish bite when it’s rough. he was right!

we circled the buoy and also did some passes in the open ocean. gosh, don’t you love my new fishing poles? i do.

my brother came along too. just a 2 hours trolling and we caught 2 fish. we were trying to get a big ono but no bites today. maybe tomorrow?

we were happy with one katsuo and one maguro. this is as fresh as you can get it.

i took the katsuo to my favorite izakaya in hawaii, they prepared it for us, and we had the best dinner ever! you can’t get katsuo any fresher than this! thank you to Manabu-san and the boys at Gaku for preparing the best katsuo tataki in hawaii! next time i catch a huge tuna, i’ll bring it to you! mahalos!

Yeah! We got tuna!!!!

i was told by many people not to ride the yellow cabs in panama. even my hotel told me to be careful and take the hotel taxis around town. but when i found out the hotel taxis cost 5x more, i said forget it, i’d rather risk my life.

almost every taxi driver doesn’t speak any english. i just throw out 3 fingers and say $3 dollars. they say “no, $8 raising 8 fingers. i say “no, $3” and start walking away to look for another one. they then whistle to me and say ok. so for $3, you can pretty much get around the whole city.

the afternoon i decided to go deep into the dangerous part of the city, it was actually fun. yes, i was walking faster than normal, getting stared at, but i knew this is the part of traveling that makes it interesting. you won’t see any tourist walking down these streets.

then i flag down another taxi. tell him $3 and take me back to my hotel. he told me $6. i told him $2. then he said, ok $3. haha.
if you’re a guy and want to explore countries, go off the path. if you’re a girl and want to explore countries, stay on the path. pretty simple. as for me, i weave in and out of the path. i don’t like to go to touristy places and try to stay away. exploring the true culture is the fun part of traveling and i like walking down dark scary streets. it keeps my heart pumping and blood flowing. try it!